The Lotte Marines were the big winners on Wednesday in their showdown with the Orix Buffaloes, and Thursday is set up for a doozy when Hiroya Miyagi and Roki Sasaki go head to head in Osaka.
The Chunichi Dragons gave a nice sendoff to pitcher Daisuke Yamai, who started against Yakult and even spotted them an out by striking out the leadoff hitter before walking into the sunset with tears in his eyes.
Thursday’s big news was the retirement of goggled Chunichi Dragons right-hander Daisuke Yamai, who at 43 is Japan’s oldest active pitcher whose career was punctuated by three things, two Japan Series wins, including the leading role in the series’ only perfect game, and a regular-season no-hitter. But it was a career that got a boost from a game of rock, paper, scissors.
